Semper Fidelis
by Senatvs Popvlvsqve Romanvs
Summary: My version of the Seven Hour War. When Marine Force Recon comes into contact with an unknown enemy, they would have never imagined that this enemy would be responsible for the defeat of mankind in a war that will last just seven hours.
1. Oscar Mike

**This is an experiment, I would like to know what you guys think of a story set in the events of the Seven Hour War. I decided to weave this together with my other story (Two Man War, a new chapter will be inbound soon), so it can be classified as a prequel of sorts. **

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**Oscar Mike**

USMC Major Nathan Lyons awoke to the sound of artillery batteries firing. He sighed; he was looking forward to that nap. He got out of his cot and made an attempt to tidy up his dirty BDUs which he had been wearing for the past two weeks. He then put on his Power Combat Vest; he put his radio headset on and then put his helmet on. Normally, he wouldn't be with his men on the front line, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Two weeks before, something happened. Nobody knew what did, but there rumours of a scientific fuck up and a botched government cover up which ended in the detonation of a tactical nuclear warhead.

_"Well, whatever happened, it certainly fucked up the lives of six billion people"_ Lyons thought. During those two weeks, alien species were magically transported to Earth and appeared out of nowhere, terrorising and killing whoever they came into contact with. In those two weeks, 95% of the planet's surface became uninhabitable as it became infested with a variety of alien life forms. Entire eco-systems were either destroyed or permanently altered. The only safe places left on Earth were the military bases and the cities. Every military in the world reacted swiftly and quickly turned cities into what were nothing more than massive bases. Every nation stopped hostilities against one another and came together to come to one goal, to eliminate this threat and rebuild. For the first time in its existence, mankind was one single force. It was too bad that it was under these circumstances.

Lyons was the leader of a Marine Force Reconnaissance detachment that was attached to the 2nd MEU. When the "incident" occurred, the 2nd MEU was 90 miles off the coast of New York City. The President of the United States himself ordered the expeditionary force to move ashore and keep order. When their position was established, high rise fences were constructed, blocking off the city. Thanks to the mobile SAM sites, the ray shaped UFOs were shot down before they could do any damage. Ground units were also being engaged in fire fights with both green aliens that shot electricity and armoured aliens that had a gun for an arm. However, after a few days, they disappeared, and the only threats were mainly a strange yellow insect creature that burrowed underground, small creatures that jumped for your head and the unlucky ones that were caught out and "infected" by those creatures, they were nicknamed "Zombies" due to the way that they wandered aimlessly around and seemed to have increased strength that your average human.

Now, a combined Army/Marine task force kept order in Manhattan and the adjacent boroughs across the river. Refugees were pilling in by the hundreds, but their numbers was decreasing daily. Missions were lead into the "Black Zone" or "No Man's Land" to find survivors. Air support was provided from F/A-18s + F-15Es from the Marine Corps + Air Force and Apache Gunships + AH-1W Cobras from the Army + Marine Corps. Ground support was provided by M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks. An observant Army NCO noticed that when the tanks were moving, the yellow insect creatures did not engage them, so the top brass used that to their advantage, and every convoy leaving the city was to be escorted by tanks.

Lyons picked up his weapon, an M4A1 Carbine with an ACOG scope, and walked out to the staging area in Central Park. It was early morning and the sun was just coming over the horizon, and there was still a constant thud of artillery batteries firing their payload into the Black Zone. He walked over to a young Gunnery Sergeant, Mike Evans, who was servicing his Humvee.

"Hey Gunny, how's the repairs?" Lyons asked.

Just about....." Evans started, he turned the ignition key, the car started "....done" he finished. Three years previously, Lyons and Evans were part of the spearhead of the Iraq invasion. Evans drove the lead Humvee, and Lyons, then a Captain, was in the passenger seat. The company fought its way to Baghdad, which earned Lyons a battlefield promotion.

"Any new missions sir?" Evans asked

"No, it's all quiet today." Lyons replied. Ironically, not long after Lyons said that, an alarm sounded across the complex. Two AH-1Ws and an Apache Â were on the helipad and preparing to take off. Lyons then saw General Knight, commander of the entire Task Force, run from his command tent, looking around frantically. When he saw Lyons by the Humvees, he sprinted over to him.

"Major, gather your men, I have a urgent assignment that requires your attention." Knight said quickly. Lyons nodded to Evans, who ran into the building which Lyons just came from so to gather up Lyons's company while he got briefed.

"What's up sir?" Lyons asked

"Do you have a map Major?" Knight asked.

"Um, yes sir, hold on a second." Lyons said. He turned and opened the passenger side door of his Humvee. He then found a map of Manhattan and the surrounding area. He took it out and opened it on the hood of the Humvee

"Two hours ago, we lost contact with a detachment of RCT-1. There was another storm just before we lost contact; I think that there is a connection. I want you and your Recon Marines to go and find them." Knight told the Major.

"Yes sir" Lyons told his superior

"Our last contact with them was here." Knight pointed on the map, about 40 klicks east. "God speed Major." Knight finished, he turned and walked back to his tent. Lyons folded the map up and put it back in the Humvee. He turned to find the 50 men under his command standing before him, checking their weapons while they were waiting for orders. These men were the best the Marine Corps had to offer, and Lyons could see that this entire experience was destroying every one of them both physically, mentally and emotionally.

"Alright Marines, I just got word from General Knight. Two hours ago, we lost contact with a detachment of RCT-1 right after another storm hit. Their last radio contact was 40 klicks outside the city. We have been tasked with finding and extracting them." Lyons paused and took a deep breath. "Look guys, you are the best Marines I have ever had the pleasure of working with, but I know what all of you must be feeling right now: tired; scared; angry. I am feeling all of those things right now. It isn't just New York, or even America that is depending on us, the entire planet is depending on us, Oorah?"

"OORAH!" the men shouted in union.

"Gentlemen, mount up." Lyons ordered. The men ran towards their Humvees and revved their engines. Lyons and Evans ran to their Humvee and got in. Lyons picked up a radio receiver from the Humvee's radio, positioned in-between him and Evans. He pushed a button on the receiver and began to talk to command. Evans started to drive, with the rest of the company in tow.

"Checkmate, this is Viper Actual, we are Oscar Mike over." Lyons said over the radio.

"Solid copy Viper. Good luck out there. Out." Checkmate replied.

Not one of the Marines knew that this day would be the most significant in mankind's history, it will be the day that mankind is defeated.

**There you have it. Remember, this time I need some sort of feedback: Story Alerts etc are good, but reviews will be most helpful, as I mentioned before, it's an experiment. Anyway, I won't have any time to update this or TMW after these chapters, I will hopefully be writing, but probably not uploading, because my exams start in just over a month, study! study! study! **


	2. An Unknown Enemy

**Well, I somehow scrambled to get this chapter up before my exams. To be honest, I don't even know what to make of this one. Almost all of the dialogue in this is (and will be) through radios, using phonetics, call signs and acronyms regularly. So much so that I am not sure you can keep up with this. I am doing it for authenticity. By the way, if you are thinking I am getting my ideas for radio dialogue from Modern Warfare 2, you are mistaken. Most of my ideas actually stem from the HBO miniseries Generation Kill, if you have seen it or read the book, you can draw parallels. At the end of the chapter, I'll explain some acronyms. **

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**An Unknown Enemy**

The atmosphere inside the Humvee, or lack thereof, troubled Lyons. It was of complete contrast to what it was like during the Iraq invasion Back then, time was spent singing and ranting about how Force Recon wasn't supposed to operate using light Humvees. No such singing or ranting could be heard now. The feelings were cold and professional. The convoy had been driving for the greater part of 40 minutes. They had rendezvoused with the Abrams not long after they left, and the tanks were struggling to keep up with the Humvees, who were trying to move as fast as possible. Lyons, who was aiming his M4 out the window looking for any hostiles, picked up the radio receiver and began to talk to command, call sign "Checkmate"

"Checkmate, this is Viper Actual, do you copy? Over" Lyons asked

"Viper Actual, this is Checkmate, go ahead."

"We are nearing the objective. Interrogative, do we have air support over?"

"That's affirmative Viper, we have two Cobras in the air; call sign "Hydra". They are nearing your AO. Standby for relay." Checkmate replied. In his earpiece, Lyons could hear the background noise of helicopter rotors

"Viper this is Hydra, we are nearing your position. What are our orders?" The Cobra pilot said.

"Hydra, you are to move ahead of us and look for any sign of RCT-1. How copy?" Lyons said.

"Solid copy, we are moving past your position now, out." The Cobra pilot replied. Even though the sun rose an hour earlier, it was still relatively dark. The only thing that illuminated the stricken landscape was the fires that engulfed several houses. The Cobras flew over the convoy, towards their objective. The convoy was moving through a suburb, most of it was burning. Decomposing bodies littered the streets, only God knew of their final moments, what kind of suffering they went through at the hands of these other worldly beings, it wasn't much more than an infestation.

_"God have mercy on their souls"_ Lyons silently prayed. Then, he thought he saw something move near the houses. He looked and he could have sworn that he saw a middle aged man in a blue suit standing by a burning house. He aimed through his ACOG to get a better view, but he was gone. Lyons just shook his head in an attempt to snap out what ever daze he was in, and concluded that the man that he had seen was nothing more than a mere element of his own imagination.

The convoy had just left the suburb, and the surrounding terrain changed dramatically. There were wide open areas that were probably once fields. The two lane road was on top of deep embankments which were on both sides of the road. In the distance, the lights of the Cobras could bee seen. Then, the Cobra pilot came on the radio.

"Viper Actual, this is Hydra, do you copy?" The cobra pilot said.

"All Viper Victors halt." Lyons ordered. The convoy came to a complete halt.

"This is Hydra, the convoy is in ruins, we have no survivors over." the Cobra pilot said

"Solid copy Hydra. Checkmate, did you get that?" Lyons asked

"Roger that Viper Actual. Be advised, mission is scrubbed, RTB." Checkmate replied. Lyons exhaled loudly in frustration.

"Fine, we are moving back to Manhattan. Out" Lyons said.

"You have got to be fucking kidding!" Evans shouted. It was the first words he had said during the whole journey.

"I know Mike, just do it." Lyons ordered

"Well, if it's an order from you Nathan, I'll gladly follow it." Evans said. The one thing that Lyons loved about his company is the loyalty that they showed. He wasn't the strictest commander in the Corps, but the one thing he wanted was respect from his men, and that he got, from every single one of them. Just as Evans started the Humvee, there was activity on the comms, it was coming from the Cobras, who were buzzing a around in a field about 800 metres away from the convoy's position.

"Viper, this Hydra, we are seeing movement in the field below us, how copy?" the pilot said

"Solid copy Hydra" Lyons replied.

"Mike, hold up" Lyons told Evans. The pilot must have forgotten to disconnect the comms, because the communication between the two Cobras could be heard.

_"2, do you see anything?"_ the Cobra pilot asked his gunner.

_"Negative, I can't see shit"_ the gunner replied _"There isn't anything on the thermals either."_

_"Hydra 2, do you have anything?"_ the pilot asked his fellow pilot.

_"Negative, I was sure I saw something move down there, we don't have anything on the thermals either."_ the other pilot replied.

Lyons and the rest of the Force Recon convoy could only watch at what was about to happen.

_"There it is again!"_ the gunner shouted

_"I see it too!"_ the other gunner replied

_"I'm firing the 30 mike-mike"_ one gunner said. He only fired off a burst before a blue light was witnessed, there seemed to be a vortex or a warping effect. A loud charging like noise could be heard as far away as the convoy. Then, a powerful blue discharge vaporized one of the Cobras and then another one quickly destroyed the other Cobra.

"Oh shit, Go Mike Go!" he shouted, Evans slammed the accelerator pedal and drove down the road, the rest of the convoy followed.

"Checkmate! Hydra is down; I say again, Hydra is down. We are about to be engaged in combat with unknown enemies. We need some fast movers down here over." Lyons shouted through the Humvee's radio.

"Roger that Viper, we're working on it out." Checkmate replied. Lyons put the radio back and pressed the button connected to his radio on his PCV.

"All Viper Victors, maintain speed and dispersion. War Pig, I want you to flank the enemy and move through the fields" Lyons ordered

"Viper, this is War Pig. Solid copy, rolling through the fields, out." the tank commander replied. The two Abrams turned and branched off from the convoy, which was moving at full speed down the road. Lyons saw a nine feet tall brownish silhouette in the field about 500 metres away from the convoy's position. He aimed his M4 and fired several controlled semi-automatic bursts, only to see sparks were the bullets where ricocheting.

"Contact, one o' clock, 500 metres." he shouted.

"Magee, range your Mark 19 and fire!" he ordered his gunner on the top of the Humvee. Several seconds later, a faint coughing sound could be heard and small explosions from the 40mm grenades could be seen in the general area where the silhouette was. Lyons then noticed the small blue light coming from the thing and he heard the charging noise again

"Oh shit, Mike stop!" Lyons shouted as the creature fired. The blue discharge landed about thirty metres ahead of the Humvees, creating a large crater and making the road impassable. Lyons' Humvee was rear ended by the Humvee behind it.

"Ah!" Lyons shouted as the Humvee crashed. "Fuck it" he shouted as he pressed the button on his PCV

"All Viper Victors disembark and take cover behind the embankment at 9 o' clock." A chorus of "Rogers" and "Yes Sirs" followed. He made a note of Checkmate's frequency and opened his door. The creatures in the field started to fire small blue projectiles, which seemed to be very similar to bullets, but their fire was very inaccurate. Lyons moved behind his Humvee, switched the firing mode on his M4 and fired long, relatively accurate bursts at the creatures, but all he could see was the sparks where his bullets impacted their targets, but it seemed to have no effect on them. When Lyons got a clicking sound, he was out of ammo. He looked to his right and saw that every one was in the ditch, so he ran back, across the road and jumped into the ditch.

"All Viper units, if you have a shot at what ever is out there, lay down suppressive fire. If you don't, watch our six." Lyons ordered. He then programmed his vest radio to Checkmate's frequency.

"Checkmate! This is Viper Actual, the road is impassable, we are under sustained fire from unknown hostiles how copy?" Lyons shouted

"Sold copy Viper, I have more air support available - two F-18s, call sign "Angel", standby for relay." Checkmate replied. After a few seconds, a new voice came on to Lyons' headset

"Viper Actual, this is Angel 4, carrying two JDAMs and two HARMs, over." the pilot said

"Angel 4, requesting immediate CAS mission, danger close." Lyons said

"Roger that Viper, we need you to deploy IR strobes to indicate the enemy's position, over." the pilot replied.

"Roger" Lyons replied. He fumbled around in his PCV until he found a grenade shaped object. He took it out and hurled it as far as he could towards the hostile creatures in the field.

"IR strobe is deployed" Lyons shouted into the radio.

"Solid copy Viper, we are three mikes from your AO, out." the pilot said. Lyons turned his radio back to the company comms.

"We have an incoming CAS mission from a group of F-18s!" Lyons informed his company. "War Pig, what's your status over?" he asked the tank commander

"Viper this is War Pig, we are 500 metres out from the enemy positions, what are our orders over." the tank commander asked

"Pull back to 900 metres and engage, we have a CAS mission inbound, over" Lyons

"Roger, pulling back to 900." the commander replied. Then, Lyons heard someone say over the radio the one thing that he didn't want to hear.

"Contact, six o' clock, 500 metres!" one Marine shouted, fear was evident in his voice. Lyons turned around and felt the same fear stab him in the chest. A pack of yellow insects was curious to see what the racket was about. The pack was slowly approaching the Marine position. Lyons quickly reloaded his M4 and aimed it at the creatures. Then, the loud thumping sound of the Abrams' 120mm cannon could be heard, then the insects took a few steps back, but then continued to move.

"Shit, they are still coming. Keep up the suppressing fire, everyone else, fire on my lead." Lyons ordered. He slid down the embankment and into the line which was formed by half of his Marines, all of whom were either crouching or in a prone position, aiming at the approaching threat.

"We have just over two minutes until the air support arrives, hold 'em off our position" Lyons ordered the men in the line. Lyons aimed down his ACOG at the lead insect and opened fire, watching the thing fall with a spray of yellow blood, which Lyons found to be pretty disgusting. The rest of his Marines followed suit, sending a barrage of automatic fire down range. Some insects even exploded. The tracer ammo loaded in their magazines made the engagement look like a laser battle out of Star Wars. Lyons guessed that the insects got really pissed, because some of the tried to evade their fire by using their wings to jump high, but the Marine barrage slaughtered every one that tried to move towards them. Lyons then heard the F-18 pilot on the radio.

"Viper, this is Angel Four, we are one mike from your AO."

"Copy Angel Four" Lyons replied.

"ONE MINUTE!" Lyons shouted on the radio. The situation was getting desperate; the insect things just kept coming out of the ground. They couldn't hold them off much longer. Lyons hoped that the result of a couple of 1500lbs JDAM impacts 700 metres away would scare them off long enough so the Abrams could return and politely give them the message to "fuck off". Lyons felt his rifle clicking, so he replaced the magazine and pulled the charging handle and continued firing controlled bursts.

Then, he heard it. The distant sound of the jets sounded like God had just dished out a divine intervention. Lyons then heard the pilot on the radio

"We have a lock. We are coming in hot at 800 feet and supersonic. Splash in Four...Three...Two...One..." Lyons could hear the jets overhead. The sound of the jets flying over was deafening, almost disorientating.

"...Splash" the pilot finished. The feeling of the impact nearly blew the Marines off their feet. The sound of the explosions from the two JDAMs was truly deafening, but Lyons could still hear the pilot on the radio.

"That's a hit. Viper Actual we are RTB, good luck. Out" the pilot said

Lyons groaned, his ears were ringing as a result of the nearby explosion. When his hearing was restored, he noticed one detail immediately, it was quiet. No gunshots, no buzzing sounds, and best of all: no sound coming from the next field. Just silence.

"War Pig, this is Viper, we need you to get back to our position for some pest control, over" Lyons

"Roger that" the tank commander replied. In the distance, the sound of tank tracks could be heard. Lyons decided to check on their new party guest in the next

"Vipers 2-1 and 2-2 on me. Every one else, wait for War Pig. By the way guys, great work" Lyons said. Beside him, around 15 men got up and walked up the embankment behind Lyons. A couple of the Humvees got tipped over by the force of the JDAM impact.

"Form a line, 5 metre spread" Lyons ordered, the men complied.

"Let's go" Lyons announced. He rested the stock of his M4 on his shoulder and slowly walked forward, being conscious of his surroundings. Eventually, the team reached a crater that was caused by one of the JDAMs. In it they found the remains of what appeared to be one of the creatures that fired at them. Lyons turned on his flashlight so he could get a better look

"Collect what ever you can find and put it over there." Lyons ordered, pointing to an area in front of him near the crater. The Marines turned on their flashlights and began to dig through the wreckage. Lyons inspected the debris in his hand. It was brown or maroon, thus making it extremely hard to spot in these fields combined with the low lighting conditions. There were also an assortment of strange engraved markings and an illustration that seemed to be cut in half by the explosion. The markings were incomprehensible; it reminded Lyons of Egyptian hieroglyphs. It was very thick, which would explain why bullets just deflected off of them. Lyons picked up the rest of the debris he could find and carried it to the pile of material that the Marines were making. Lyons dumped his metal down and then he heard another Marine in another crater

"Hey guys! Look at this thing!" he shouted. He was holding a massive turret, which he could barley hold. It definitely looked like a conventional machine gun found on Earth, but it was a lot longer.

After a couple of more minutes, Lyons decided to pack it up and leave.

"Ok guys, let's go. We have enough scrap for the egg heads to have a field day." Every man picked up a pile of scrap and slowly walked back to the Humvees, It took a couple of men to carry the two turrets they found. When they got back to the convoy, Lyons dumped his share of material in one of the Humvees and started to walk back to his own. Some Marines were trying to overturn a Humvee that had been toppled over by the force of the JDAM impacts. He noticed Gunny Evans staring at something on their Humvee, so Lyons walked a bit faster. When he got their, he found Evans staring at the damage done to the Humvee, which was superficial, but it also was unusual. Instead of any sort of penetration which would point to a bullet like projectile, there were numerous burn marks around a centimetre wide scattered across the Humvee.

"What the-?" Lyons asked himself. He put his hand on one of the burn marks, and burnt paint crumbled in his hand.

"This just keeps on getting weirder." Lyons remarked. Then a loud thump was heard from behind them. They turned to find the overturned Humvee back on four wheels. Again, the unnecessary silence troubled Lyons. Usually the Marines would shout encouraging phrases at them, but the men watched on as the occupants of the Humvee quickly did a damage assessment and concluded that there wasn't a lot of damage. These facts made Lyons extremely concerned, this wasn't the unit he took command of, these men were under extreme battlefield stress, it could even be described as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Then again, it wasn't like these events didn't have an effect on him, they were. This feeling was eating him up inside. The felling that the entire world was depending on him, depending on him to do something. He sighed; he would sleep on it and see how he feels about it the next day.

"Everyone ready to go?" Lyons shouted down the column

"Yes sir!" most Marines shouted.

"Then let's move out!" he shouted. He opened his door and got into the Humvee. Evans and the rest of the group did the same. Evans started the engines and did a U-turn and started the long journey back to Manhattan "Checkmate, this is Viper, we are RTB, over." Lyons told command.

"Roger Viper, when you return, report to General Knight for debrief." Checkmate ordered

Little did the elite Marines know, they were being watched closely by a higher power. This power was impressed at the military skill and perseverance of this new race. The Marines had no idea that their victory against this new enemy accelerated the execution of a plan that was designed by these higher powers to enslave humanity and take over Earth.

**Acronyms:**

**JDAM - Joint Direct Attack Munitions; basically a guided bomb that goes up to 2000lbs**

**CAS - Close Air Support**

**AO - Area of Operations**

**"Mike-Mike" - Phonetics for "mm" e.g 40mm; 5.56mm; 7.62mm etc.**

**"Victor" - Phonetic for "Vehicle"  
**

**This enemy that I'm trying describe is the "Combine Super Soldier" (Search the Combine Overwiki for it, t****his site won't allow me to post links), an enemy cut from the final release. They didn't really have a Strider turret and automatic pulse machine guns on them, I just made that up.**

**Radio Callsigns - Viper Actual (Lyons) is the over all leader of the Viper element. It is split up into separate fire teams (Viper 1; Viper 2) and that is split into squads (Viper 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2 etc)  
**


	3. Preemptive Strike

**I find this story quicker and easier to write than TMW. Ravenholm is loooooong, so an update won't be seen there for a while. I'm not going to bother ranting about exams, becasue they start tomorrow. Oh yeah, thanks to The Order of Ubermensch who suggested that iPhone app, you are a life saver :).**

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**Preemptive Strike**

**Two weeks earlier - Somewhere in the New Mexico Desert, 30 miles from the Black Mesa Research Facility**

The desert sun shone high in the sky. Three humans trudged through the sandy and rocky terrain. Two of them were men, both wearing lab coats that were once white, but were now stained with dirt and dust. The third person was a child, who wasn't more than five years of age. She was being carried by the black scientist. Two days earlier, a horrible mistake occured. They unknowingly triggerrd a series of events that led to a "Resonance Cadcade", which facilitated the travel of hundreds of diverse inter-dimensional beings to Earth, who were unfortunatley hostile. The military was sent in, but their attemps to quarentine the spread were unsuccessful. Dr Issac Kleiner; Dr Eli Vance and his daughter Alyx Vance escaped by sneaking into the motor pool and stealing a SUV. However, the SUV broke down a mile away, and they continued on foot in search of a gas station. Eli carried Alyx, while Kleiner toyed and figitited with the Glock 19 handgun which he had found in the glovebox. Eventually, Eli got tired of Kleiner's figiting.

"Here, take Alyx Izzy." Eli said, giving him a knowing look. Kleiner didn't want to argue, so he complied. He handed over the gun and took over carrying Alyx, who wasn't accustomed to the desert heat. Eli quickly checked the magizine of the Glock and pulled the charging handle. Kleiner gave him an odd look

"What? I did a couple of Hazard Courses." he said innocently, Kleiner nodded. Eli tried to ignore the obvious question that was lingering on both of their minds, but caved in.

"Have you heard from Gordon since he left Xen?" he asked. Kleiner frowned

"Sadly, no." he stated. "After I sent him off to Xen, I went to find you. We have no immediate way to tell if his endavour was a success, I doubt we will ever see him again." Kleiner said sadly. Eli frowned. Then a deafening explosion was heard from behind them. Both of them turned around to find a mushroom cloud rising high into the atmosphere. Both men were awestruck, to say the least.

"My God." Eli said, Kleiner just stood there at a loss for words. Alyx started to cry and Kleiner tried to comfort her. Eli bent down and picked up a hand full of sand. He threw it in the air, and to his relief, it flew towards the mushroom cloud.

"We will be fine." he said reassuringly, "The wind is heading west, so that means that none of the fallout will come our way. Come on, we need to keep moving." he said, turning and continuing to walk. After a while, they came to a small cave network. Eli told Kleiner to stay with Alyx as he went to check it out. He traveled down to the mouth of the cave. What he saw there introducted a new feeling of fear into his body. Inside the cave was a large gathering of the green creatures that could fire electricity from their hands. He held the grip of his pistol tighter, and tighter more when one of them turned its head and noticed him. However, they did not attack him. They just stared at him with their red eyes. They almost had a mixture of happy and sad emotions on their faces if you could call it that. When it was clear that they wouldn't attack, Eli lowered his pistol. One Alien lifted his arm towards a space beside him.

"Come" it simply said in broken English. Eli was taken aback at the fact that he could speak English. He signalled Kleiner to come over and he sat with the creatures. Kleiner froze at the sight before him, but slowly walked in as he saw Eli sitting with them, he slowly walked in with Alyx, who stayed silent with fear.

"So" Eli started "What exactly are you?" he asked nerviously. He knew exactly what he was doing. He was making the first friendly contact with an alein race, whom were their enemies in combat just days earlier. The alien beside him thought for a second, tryimg to chose his words carefully with his new knowlege of a new vocabulary.

"We are the..." it started. He tried to translate the word into English "....Vortigaunts." it finished. Eli started to shift nerviously.

"Do not worry, we will not hurt you" it said.

"How can I be so sure?" Eli asked "Just days ago, your kind teleproted into our facility and killed everthing that stood in your way"

"Ah, that was...unfortunate. Allow me to explain." it said, Eli nodded for it to continue.

"We are a tribal species, at the moment, the minds of everything in this room, apart from yourselves, are linked. If one member of the tribe learns something, we all learn it. Many years ago, one of our species took power. His name was Nihlianth. Soon, the wealth of power that he possessed corrupted him, and he enslaved his own people. That was what we had on ourselves during our travel." he pointed to a pile of green material in the corner. "They represented our enslavement. But then however, everything changed. The Universal Union attacked us." it said

"Universal Union?" Eli asked

"Yes, they are a massive force, comprised of a variety of different species, all of them victims of the conquest of their own species, then assimilated so that they can serve the military might of the Union. Their numbers are so vast that the original species of the union no longer fight. They became dependant on the very technology they created so that they may survive. We call them the "Shu'ulathoi". When they attacked, our kind fled to Xen. Then, we found the dimensional rift created by your species. Nihlianth ordered us to take over the planet so that we may use it as a sactuary from the Union. However, we have recieved word that he has been slain. We no longer see any need to fight with your species. What I am afraid is that the Union has took notice of your planet, but that is unlikely." Eli smiled

"He did it" Eli whispered

"I'm sorry?" the Vortigaunt asked

"We sent a man by the name of Dr Gordon Freeman to Xen, the border world, to close the dimensional rift and stop whoever was holding it open. If what you say is true, then it means that he succeed." Eli said

"Then we as a species owe this Gordon Freeman a debt of gratitude. He not only closed the rift, but freed us from a life of slavery. He must truly be a Free Man." the Vortigaunt said. Eli laughed for the first time in days. The Vortigaunt got to his feet

"Come, we must go." the Vortigaunt said. Eli also got to his feet and with Alyx and Kleiner, they travelled with the group of 20 Vortigaunts, who protected them along the way.

**Present Day - 10 miles from Manhattan Island**

An hour after the engagement, the Force Recon convoy was finally nearing Manhattan. Even thought their initial mission had failed miserably, spirits seemed to be a bit higher. Lyons just couldn't tell if the cause of the men themselves or just a delayed release of adrenaline as a result of the previous engagement. The mildly long road trip allowed Lyons to reflect on the events over the last two hours.

_"The convoy went dark not long after a storm hit"_ Lyons thought _"That probably means that those things that ambushed them, and us, came here through the storm, like everything else. They weren't anything we have ever encountered before, so it's definatley a new race. They definatly seem more advaned than the existing orgainisms, with the exception of the green electric ones. They had advanced weapons and they put up one hell of a fight. The real question is, where are the rest of them?"_ he wondered._ "Why haven't we heard reports of a newly discovered species? May be they were a reconissance element sent to scout out Earth?"_ he thought. He just shock his head and dropped the issue from his mind.

"Checkmate, this is Viper, we are 15 mikes out, over." Lyons said

"Viper, this is Checkmate, solid co...-" the radio screeched and went dead.

"What the fuck?" Lyons thought out loud, staring at the handset.

"What?" Evans asked from the driver's seat.

"Checkmate's line just went dead." Lyons stated. "Checkmate, Checkmate, this is Viper Actual, radio check, over" Lyons said, but it was met with nothing but static. Then he heard Evans talk from the drivers seat.

"Holy God" he simply said, staring at the road ahead. Lyons looked up and nearly felt his jaw hit the floor. A large blue storm was coming towards the convoy at a high speed. The Marines had heard about the storms a lot, but they had never witnessed one before. Lyons hastilly pressed the button on his PCV

"ALL VIPER VICTORS, BRACE FOR IMPACT!" he shouted and held on to the dashboard. The storm quickly passed through the convoy, but nothing happened. Lyons started to feel uneasy.

"Something doesn't feel right. Hit the throttle Mike." Lyons ordered

"Yes Sir" Evans replied. He slammed the accelerator and they convoy sped up towards Manhattan. Five minutes later they reached to front gates, which opened to allow the convoy back in.

"Where to Major?" Evans asked

"Get to Central Park Mike, double time it." he ordered. After 10 minutes of navigating the city, they we coming close to Centeral Park. It was a hive of activity, with tanks rolling around the area and men were running to and from their Humvees and buildings. Two words could be used to describe their facial expressions: Fear and Panic. Lyons tried the radio again

"Checkmate, Checkmate, This is Viper Actual, radio check, over." he said into the handset. Again, he was met with static.

_"Oh no"_ Lyons thought

"Mike, stop." Lyons ordered. The Humvee stopped.

"Wait here, I'll be right back." he said. He opened his Humvee door and jogged towards a crowd about 100 metres in front of him. What he found when he got there horrified him. What was once Centeral Park was now nothing more than a gaping hole in the ground. Beside him was a young Army Lietenant, judging from the camoflauge.

"Soldier, what the hell happened here?" Lyons asked in a commanding voice. The young officer sighed loudly and started to turn around. He obviously wasn't aware of who he was talking to.

"For the tenth time, I don't-" he cut himself off in mid sentence once he had turned around to face Lyons. He obviously noticed the MARPAT BDUs, the PCV and the golden oak leaf insignia on his PCV. His face was full regret when he realised what he sounded like.

"Oh, Major, I-I-I" he studdered

"It's okay Lieutenant. What happened?" Lyons asked

"That's the problem, we don't know sir. The storm passed through Manhattan then Centeral Park disappeared." the officer said

"Who is in charge here?" Lyons asked. The Lieutenant hesitated

"You are sir." he stated "All batallion, regiment and company commanders were at a briefing with General Knight when the storm hit." Lyons started to feel sick. He was meant to be at that briefing. But now, the command of thousands of men across the three branches of the armed forces stationed in Manhattan was now on his shoulders.

_"From commanding a 50 man Force Recon company to commanding a task force with thousands of troops"_ Lyons thought _"That's one hell of a jump."_

**So yeah, pretty short chapter. Guess who's coming ;) R&R**


	4. Unexpected Visitors

**Here's the next chapter. I kind of wanted to explain how Shephard was able to speak fluent Russian in TMW; so I put a small reference in there. I am also toying the idea of having a another prequel to this that covers the Borealis and the illegal activities of Aperture Science in their effort to beat Black Mesa; written in a similar style to this story. **

* * *

**Unexpected Visitors**

Lyons stood dumbfounded for several moments, unable to digest the news that the entire command structure of the task force was systematically wiped out. Soldiers with a lot of battlefield experience develop a natural "sixth sense" for danger and things that are out of the ordinary. Lyon's sixth sense was going haywire. There is no way that the most powerful "portal storm" in two weeks would strike in the exact vicinity of the military's command post while a task force wide briefing was taking place with every soldier, marine or air man with a commanding position present. Lyons taught himself that there is no such thing as coincidences, but this was the biggest load of bullshit he has ever seen. It is obvious that there was a higher power at work here, but the question was who, or what, that power was. Lyons become so lost in his thoughts that he completely forgot about the Army Lieutenant in front of him. The sound of a formation of AH-64D Apache gunships flying overhead to observe the damage from overhead interrupted Lyon's thoughts.

"Sir?" the lieutenant asked "Are you all right sir?"

"Yes, I am fine Lieutenant. Is there anywhere where I can set up shop?" Lyons asked

"Yes sir, we are already setting up a command post a couple of miles away. They are awaiting your arrival." the young officer replied

"Thanks Lieutenant. I want you to coordinate with every company you can find. Talk to the new COs and set up comms with both myself and the command post." Lyons ordered

"Yes sir!" the Lieutenant replied, giving Lyons a salute, which he returned. The young officer then jogged away in search of commanders. Lyons exhaled loudly and slowly walked back to his Humvee column, receiving several salutes from soldiers as he walked past. All of his men were waiting in their Humvees except for Evans, who was standing by the door of his own..

"What's going on Nate?" he asked.

"Central Park's gone Mike." Lyons replied.

"Holy shit!" Evans exclaimed. Behind all of the background noise, he could hear chatter coming from the Humvees. Evans looked at his watch, then he realized how serious the situation is.

"That briefing was on, wasn't it?" Evans asked, but he already knew the answer by looking at Lyons' facial expression.

"Good God!" he exclaimed, "but who's in command now?" he asked

"Me" Lyons' simply replied, Evans was almost in a state of shock. "Come on, we need to get to the new command post, it's a few miles down the road." At that, he opened his door and got into his Humvee. Evans slowly did the same. He started the engine, did a u-turn and headed down the road to the command post. They stopped at a high rise building which was under armed guard. The scene in the streets was an absolute nightmare. Squads of Soldiers and Marines alike seemed to wander around aimlessly since their command chain was broken. Columns of Humvees; APCs and the occasional tanks were also affected. There were even several civilians who had mustered up the courage to leave their homes to find out what was going on, they were armed themselves, of course. Lyons activated his PCV radio.

"All Viper units, wait in your victors, out." He then opened his door and moved to disembark. He stopped half way and turned to Evans.

"Hey Mike, come on, you're with me." Lyons said. Evans obeyed and got out of his Humvee. The two men walked towards the building, which was guarded by two Army NCOs. Both soldiers saluted almost ceremoniously. Lyons stopped in front of one of the guards, taking a quick peek at the chevrons on his arm.

"Staff Sergeant, what floor is the CP on?" Lyons asked

"Your command post in on the top floor sir." the sergeant replied.

"Thanks." Lyons replied, he was met by another salute, which he returned. He needed to get used to people saluting him where ever he went. Lyons and Evans both walked into the building, took off their helmets and walked into the elevator and it made a slow ascent to the top floor. Lyons could almost read the mind of his friend beside him, he knew that he was wondering what was going to happen to the men in his company now that he was made commander of the task force.

"I know what you are thinking Mike." Lyons stated

"Hm?" Evans replied

"You are thinking that the company is now no longer under my direct command and is going to be handed over to someone else." Evens didn't answer immediately, so Lyons continued.

"I won't let that happen Mike. Even though I just got a major promotion, it doesn't mean that I am leaving the men. If I am not in the position to go into combat, I won't send my men into combat. I can't let them die while I sit in a command post with my head up my ass. You guys are my company, no one will take it." Lyons said firmly, he meant it. Evans gave him a small smile to show that he appreciated it. The elevator came to a halt and its doors opened to the new command post, which basically looked like a very large converted penthouse office. Men from both the Army and Marine Corps were setting up radio and satellite communications, so that they may communicate with both their own units on the ground in the city and similar forces worldwide. Once Lyons entered the room, every person in the room stopped what they were doing and stood at attention. Both men just simply walked towards the office at the end of the room.

"At ease" Lyons said, which the men took as an order to get back to work, which they did. Lyons opened the door to the office and stepped inside. The office was neat. It had a large wooden desk in it's centre and a large couch facing it and the wall was decorated with various paintings. Lyons placed his helmet and M4 on the desk; took his headset off and hung it on his neck and turned around to face Evans.

"What now?" Evans asked

"Well" Lyons started "I guess that I'll have to brief the guys over at the UN soon."

"Damn, those guys are still there after two weeks?" Evans asked. During the incident, there was a summit taking place in the UN building. Several high ranking officials from the member states were attending. Since there was no hope of getting back to their countries in the near future, they used the residence facilities provided by the UN staff as temporary homes. They kept in contact with their home nations via satellite phones so they could be kept up to date on the situations there. They also were interested in the situation that was manifesting around them, so General Knight himself gave them briefings in the main chamber every few days.

"Yep, we just don't have the means to evacuate them safely and securely." Lyons replied "There are hundreds of delicates, which makes it a complete tactical nightmare with regards to their security." Evans nodded.

"Mike, I want you to go back down to the company and bring the men in. I want all of the team leaders in here so I can personally explain the situation to them, and so they can pass it on to the men." Lyons ordered softly

"Yes sir" Evans replied and he turned towards the door. Lyons always ignored the fact that he, and the rest of the company, rarely saluted him. He knew that they respected him, and they knew that he didn't like getting salutes everywhere he went. Just before he left the room, Lyons uttered one last phrase.

"Semper Fi" - _Always Faithful_. The use of the Marine Corps' motto gave Evans the assurances that he needed. Once Evans had turned and got back into the elevator, Lyons walked back into the communications post.

"Who here has a connection with the UN?" he shouted to the large group of soldiers and junior officers. One man put his hand up.

"Yes sir! Over here!" the man shouted. Lyons walked over to his position. In front of him was a large military issue radio. The Marine Corporal looked like he was barely out of high school. He somehow reminded him of a certain Corporal that he tried to get into his unit about six months before. _Shephard I think his name was._ he thought. He aced the BRC when he had just turned 22, according to his file. He had also aced Scout Sniper School and had experience with the British SAS. He later heard that after the BRC, he went on a course with the Russian Spetsnaz, but it was apparently wouldn't come up on his file, because Russian-US relations were not exactly peachy at the time.

_And those Spetsnaz guys are tough bastards_ Lyons thought from experience, himself having some experience with the Russians that wasn't exactly on-books either.

"I just finished the up-link sir, It should work fine. The unit callsign there is "Raptor." he said

"Thanks Corporal" Lyons said, picking up the receiver.

"Raptor, this is Viper Actual, how copy, over?"

"Viper, this is Raptor, standing by to copy, over." the man on the other end replied

"Raptor, I want you and your men to assemble the dedicates for a emergency briefing session in 30 mikes." Lyons ordered

"Roger that Viper, out." the soldier replied, then the line was disconnected. Lyons then walked back into the office and sat down on the leather chair. He attempted to relax, because he started to feel the effects of stress, and that was the last thing that he needed right now. He instinctively looked around for some sort of drink, but he then sighed when he found nothing. Then, a weird feeling washed over him. He couldn't explain the sensation that he was feeling, it almost felt like he was floating, but he could still move. He looked at his watch and he was annoyed when he noticed that it just stopped completely. He turned his chair around towards the window and he felt like getting a new pair of pants. An AH-1w _Super Cobra_ gunship had stopped dead in its tracks right in front of the window. But it just stayed stationary in mid-air, the pilot and gunner looked to have been in the middle of something and were stuck pressing buttons on their control panels. They were not moving either.

_Holy shit, did time just stop? What the fuck?_ he thought. Lyons was no theoretical physicist, but he was under the impression that such a thing was impossible. _Sure it is possible for the human mind to give the illusion that time was slowing down at certain times, but time can't be stopped, it's fucking impossible!_ he thought. He turned back only to be met by a man directly in front of the desk.

"FUCK!" he shouted loudly, startled by the sudden appearance of the man before him. Lyons didn't hear a thing, and that was saying a lot because of his training. He immediately reached for his M4 on the desk, but when he grasped the pistol grip, it wouldn't budge.

"That won't be necessary, Major Lyons" the man said slowly and coldly. "I mean you no harm." Lyons then slowly, and reluctantly, loosened his grip on the M4. He didn't really have a choice. He took a good look at the man in front of him. He had a very pale skin tone, and his facial expression showed zero emotion. He was dressed in a crisp blue suit with a clean white shirt, purple tie and it was complete with a corporate style briefcase, which he was carrying in his right hand. Lyons then flashed back to the burning suburb that his convoy had driven through a few hours earlier. The man that he thought he saw matched the description of the man standing before him.

"Who the hell are you?" Lyons asked somewhat harshly, trying to regain his composure.

"Who I am is not important, Major. I have come to...advise you on upcoming events. I will try to keep this brief." the man said. Lyons snorted.

"You are implying that you, or I, are short on time. Yet, you did stop time itself so that you may convene with me. Our perception of time is now meaningless. So we actually have all the time the world" Lyons stated, feeling slightly anxious. He was talking like a scientist, not necessarily a Marine. _Then again, it was all logical, wasn't it?_ he thought.

"Very good Major." the man stated, a small smile formed on his face "You are correct in the sense that at the moment your perception of time is meaningless. However, that is not the case in the place where I come from. Major, I have been...observing you and your men for several weeks." Lyons gave him a weird look "Please, do not take that statement the wrong way, I am not your enemy. In fact, the real enemy is on the horizon. Everything you see around you is just the beginning. This planet has caught their attention due to the...errors in calculation and mishaps made by your scientists. You have met the enemy in...combat before Major, and you emerged victorious. However, that almost certainly will not be the case later. What I have come to say is that you and your men will become more important to the human race than you will ever imagine. Do not waste you lives so foolishly." The man said. Lyons digested the information relatively quickly, faster than any normal man would in a similar situation. Lyons wanted to ask how he knew all of this, but he eventually decided not to do so. He had seen Alien species teleport from another world right in front of him; he was now sitting in a place without any perception of time and the man before him had the ability to stop time. The inference that he could also look forward in time was extremely plausible as a result.

_I have now, officially, seen it all_ he thought. The man smiled coldly

"Now, this is where we go our separate ways." he said. At the edge of his peripheral vision, Lyons noticed a pulsing green light, similar to the light which the creatures appeared from. The man simply turned, walked into the light, and disappeared from view completely. Lyons then felt time coming back to normal. He looked at his watch, which started to function normally from when it left off, and he heard the sound of the Cobra gunship fly past the building. He leaned back on the chair and analyzed what he had just heard. From that ordeal, it was easy to ascertain that something big was going down. Whatever was coming, it was supposed to be worse than the problems that he already has on his plate, and if it involved more of those nine foot laser firing things, then things didn't look good in Lyons' mind. Then, something started to piece together: The mission; the man's presence in the suburb; the ambush; the storm and his new command. The fact that he was the only high ranking officer in the field and not at that meeting couldn't mere coincidence. Could this be the guy that is pulling the strings?

_Ding_

Outside, he heard the elevator arrive and the clump of a group of heavy duty combat boots. A knock came on the door of the office.

"Yeah" Lyons said, the door opened and Evans walked back in along with his platoon commanders, who were all Lieutenants.

"Nate, you okay?" Evans asked

"Yeah, why?"

"You just look like you have seen a ghost." Evans replied. Lyons got up and looked at his reflection at the window, and sure enough, behind a few streaks of dirt on his face he was pale after that time stopping encounter.

"I guess it's just the stress." Lyons replied, trying to brush the issue aside. He turned around to face Evans and his officers. He cleared his throat and explained what was going on, but he left some obvious details out, like the visit that he had a few moments before. Once he was finished, the officers were shocked. Not only was their entire chain of command was wiped out, but their own CO was pulled and put in a position of extreme authority and they were pulled from active combat operations as per the wishes of their CO. After digesting the information for several moments, one of the officers slowly raised his hand.

"Yes Johnston?" Lyons asked

"Sir, what do we tell the men?" he asked. Lyons quickly gave his answer.

"The truth, Lieutenant. You will tell them the truth. They deserve nothing less." The young officer nodded. All of the men stood at attention and gave a rare salute, which was returned. Before they left, Lyons added one more thing.

"By the way, Gents, I have to leave for the UN building in five minutes; for all intents and purposes, you guys are still my company and you are coming with me, oorah?" He was met with the customary Marine oorah! reply, and the officers left, with small smiles on their faces, knowing that they were not abandoned by their CO, and never will be.

"Come on Mike, let's go." Lyons said, fixing his headset and gathering his helmet and M4, which he slung across his chest. When they got down to the Humvees, they found that most of the men were getting ready to leave, and the rest were just behind him. When everyone was ready, the 12 vehicle convoy started its journey towards the UN Building, along the East River.

Once the convoy reached the gates of the UN building, they were immediately waved through by the guards on duty at the gate. The convoy drove around the courtyard and parked in a semi-circular fashion, with Lyons' vehicle on point adjacent to the man entrance.

"All Viper elements, now would be a good idea to brief your men while I am in here. After that, you can do what ever the hell you want until I get back." Lyons said on the officer comms.

At their arrival, a soldier rushed out through the automatic doors towards the convoy, while fumbling with his helmet. Even though he knew that the convoy was carrying the new Task Force Commander, Major Lyons, he didn't know about his unit. He stopped and did a quick double take on the appearance of his men. In the US Military, the Powered Combat Vest was a powerful status symbol, it showed that you were part of a highly trained Special Operations unit, and that you should show them some respect. Regular Infantry units only got the standard Kevlar body protection while Special Forces were issued with PCVs.

Lyons and Evans got out of their Humvee and walked to the soldier who was waiting to greet them. Behind him, his platoons were assembling on their respective leader's Humvee for a full briefing on their current situation, if they haven't figured it out already. The young soldier saluted and addressed him

"Major Lyons, The delegates are assembled in the main council chamber and awaiting your arrival, sir."

"Thanks Private, is your Lieutenant around?" Lyons asked

"He's inside, sir." the soldier replied. Before he moved inside, Lyons turned to Evans

"Mike, could you do me a favor and stay out here with the men? I'd just like to go on this one alone, Lyons asked softly

"Sure Nate" Evans replied, watching on as Lyons turned and followed the Private into the building. Evans turned back and walked towards the company.

After walking through, and setting off, the metal detectors, they walked into the lobby. It wasn't particularly grand or lavish, it certainly didn't look like the headquarters of the organization that made up of most of the sovereign states on the planet which governed international law, security and policy. In the lobby, another soldier was waiting for him, which Lyons assumed to be the Lieutenant.

"Lieutenant" Lyons said, the man stood at attention. "Thanks Private" Lyons said, the Private saluted again and walked off.

"Lieutenant, could you please lead me to the main chamber where the delegate are assembled." Lyons ordered

"Yes sir" the Lieutenant replied, turning to his right and walked across the lobby towards a set of double doors.

"So Lieutenant, do they know what's up?" Lyons asked

"To be honest sir, I don't know. If they had any idea, they sure as hell didn't look like they did when we rounded them up. But I imagine that some have sneaking suspicions, they were just called to an emergency briefing session on a day when they were supposed to cram in some R&R. When they see you walk in, they'll know something's up, sir."

"Any tips?" Lyons asked

"Sir, be honest and straightforward, they'll appreciate during a crisis like this."

They came to another set of double doors and the Lieutenant stopped.

"This is the chamber sir." he said. He noticed that Lyons looked a bit nervous. "Don't worry sir, I'm sure that you'll do just fine." he said

"Thanks Lieutenant." Lyons said The Lieutenant saluted, as did Lyons. Lyons stared at the door and took a deep breath. He didn't particularly like public speaking. Making speeches to his company was hard enough, but he now had to brief elected delegates from over 190 countries on how the chain of command got wiped out. That was something else. Lyons took off his helmet and opened the doors into the chamber and slowly walked in, carrying his helmet under his arm.

The chamber was massive, it had hundreds of seats which surrounded the stage, which had plain blue background with the seal of the United Nations on it. Directly below the seal was a wooden podium, which also had the UN seal on its front. In front every delegate, a small black plaque illustrates the country that he/she represents. Some had small headphones on theirs ears since they did not understand English. Lyons walked through the chamber towards the stage. He could feel that his presence surprised most delegates, as since he walked in, he could hear the nervous whispers of the politicians. Lyons never liked politicians, he based his reasons around the quote made by Herbert Hoover: _"Older men declare war, but it is the youth that must fight and die."_

He knew he had to shrug it off for a while. When he got to the podium, he put his helmet on a shelf inside the podium on a shelf. Before he started, he took a good look around the room. The entire chamber was full. In the front row sat the US staff including the Secretary of Defense, or "SecDef", Edward Neil. However, Lyons' internal alarms started to ring when he noticed one man. He was in his mid forties, and yet had ghost white hair, and a white beard to go along with it. He wore a white turtleneck covered by a brown suit jacket and pants. There just wasn't something right about the guy, he sat with the US staff, but Lyons was sure that he didn't work for the current administration. Lyons made a mental note to check it out later, and then he started his briefing/speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for assembling together on such short notice. I will try to keep this as short as possible. My name is Major Nathan Lyons, United States Marine Corps. I have come to deliver some terrible news. At about 0900 hours, Central Park was lost in the middle of a 'Portal Storm'". The statement sparked a reaction from the audience, as hushed whispers could be heard throughout the chamber. The man with the white beard spoke up.

"What do mean by 'lost' Major?"

"What I mean is that it disappeared and was replaced by a gaping hole in the ground." More hushed whispers could be heard, and some delegates spoke up.

"Outrageous!" a Russian voice said

"Impossible!" a French voice said

"Where is General Knight?" another asked, not wanting to believe the obvious.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I also regret to inform you that General Knight; his staff and commanders from the three branches of the military are were killed while having a briefing. Since myself and my company were out in the field at the time, I am now the superior officer and I have assumed command of all US military forces in Manhattan and the surrounding area." Lyons said. This time, there was no reaction. The audience was stunned. He could see the pain in their eyes, more so in the SecDef, who must have known Knight well. However, the guy with the white beard showed zero reaction. Nothing. It was as if he didn't even care.

_Bastard _Lyons thought. _Look at him, he doesn't even fucking care. _

The mere thought made Lyons' blood boil.

_Even politicians have a heart, but this guy...he really takes the cake_ he thought. The SecDef then spoke up.

"Major, what's your outfit?"

"Sir, I am a member of a Force Reconnaissance company that was part of the 2nd Marine Division. We were attached to the 2th MEU before the...incident occurred sir, we were deploying to the Persian Gulf." Lyons replied. The SecDef nodded, satisfied with the answer. Lyons turned back to the crowd and continued.

"Now, in the wake of this disaster, most of our communication lines were cut and a very large portion of the chain of command has been wiped out. Our main priority now is to regain combat effectiveness as quickly as possible. However, I would like to emphasise that this tragedy has not completely compromised our combat ability. We will continue forward, it what General Knight and every one of our dead would want us to do. Thank you, I will take no further questions." Lyons finished, picked up his helmet and walked out. There was barely a sound in the room. However, he heard someone emerge from their seat behind him, Lyons alrady knew who the person would be.

_Main Gate, Near the Brooklyn Bridge _

"Hey, Marley!" 2nd Lieutenant Gary Anderson shouted at his radio man, "How are those comms coming along?"

"It's nearly finished, give me 10 minutes or so"

"Yeah, okay." the Lieutenant replied. He walked out from the building inside the large checkpoint that covered one of the main entrances into Manhattan; four lanes wide. The position was manned by a small force made up both Army and Marines. When there wasn't anything to do, both sides made fun of one another, due to old rivalries. It was just to lighten the mood, because both sides knew that they were in this together. The sun was out, but the day wasn't made any lighter by it's presence. In the distance, large columns of smoke rose into the atmosphere and fires could be seen burning, just like they have been doing for the past two weeks. The area 30 miles in front of the checkpoint was completely covered in smoke, it was completely covered by the darkness. The personnel who manned the checkpoint jokingly refereed to it as "Mordor" after Mordor from the popular book and movie "The Lord of the Rings" due to it's uncannily resemblance in appearance, without the mountains and volcano, of course. The Lieutenant donned a pair of distinctive Oakley sunglasses and walked up to the elevated MG and sniper position that was mainly comprised of sandbags. He took a moment after putting on his Oakleys to think back to his time while he was deployed in Iraq, where the kids believed that the Oakleys that the American soldiers wore had x-ray powers that allowed them to see through women's clothing. He laughed, something that he hadn't done in a while.

Just as he arrived on position, the sniper and spotter in the tower snapped into action.

"Contact!" the spotter shouted. "I have unknown contacts at twelve o' clock, range approximately seventeen-hundred metres and closing."

"I tally" the shooter replied. Beyond the checkpoint was the remnants of an old freeway which cut through a suburb of Manhattan. About a mile or so ahead of them, the spotter had noticed something moving slowly towards them. It was green. Men below who had heard him quickly assembled and aimed their weapons down the remains of the freeway. Since their radios were currently down, the men restored to regular speaking and shouting to relay instructions.

"Hold your fire!" the Lieutenant shouted. He ducked down behind the sandbags beside the spotter and balanced is M16A4 rifle on top of the sandbags. He took off his sunglasses and replaced them with a pair of binoculars. He too saw the green things coming towards them, he looked away from them to shout down at his radioman.

"Jesus Christ Marley, get those fucking comms up NOW! We have multiple alien contacts inbound on our position!" he shouted. Then, he heard the voice of the shooter beside the spotter.

"Oh my god.." he started. He almost said it with pain in his voice. The spotter started turn pale. He was still looking through his scope, so the Lieutenant looked back at the incoming threat in his binoculars. He then felt himself go pale too.

"Dear god, it that what I think it is?" he said out loud. In the centre of the group of green aliens, there were two figures. They stood out from the rest of the group because, quite simply, they were human beings. They both had white coats on them, it looked they were scientists, but their clothes were ripped and torn. They both looked in their thirties or forties. One man was white while the other was black. The real surprise came when the Lieutenant fiddled with the focus and their image became clearer, he felt his stomach ache with fear. He noticed that the black man was carrying a small child, which was resting on his shoulder. He couldn't tell the gender, but from the size he estimated that he/she was five or six years old. As per natural human instinct, soldiers hate children getting caught up in combat. Their natural innocence and naivety would be lost forever, and nothing can describe the feeling that a soldier feels when they see either children dieing or the bodies of dead children in a war zone. It is horrible. The Lieutenant found determination deep down to get it done, to do the right thing, and save those people's asses. He got up and jogged over to the edge of the tower. He looked over at the other tower and noticed that they had seen what he had just seen, and they were not happy.

"Marley, give me your status on those comms!" he shouted.

"A couple minutes!" the radioman shouted

"Goddamn it Marley! There are two men and a five year old kid out there! Get me the CO on the horn!" he shouted. The radioman, and the men manning the ground level, looked up with disbelief at the mention of a human presence out there, especially a child. The radioman then quickly got back to work to get the radio working.

"How far out are they?" he shouted up to his CO while he was working.

"At the speed they are going, somewhere within the next five to ten minutes." The Lieutenant replied.

_UN Building_

Lyons walked through the lobby. Behind him, he heard the footsteps of someone behind him. Then, those footsteps were joined by two others, they sounded like combat boots. He then heard the man speak out to him, it was exactly who Lyons thought it would be.

"Major Lyons!" the man shouted. Lyons sighed to himself and turned around. Behind the man was two armed guards. They wore all black gear with black one-hole balaclavas and were armed with MP5 sub-machine guns. Lyons recognized the patch on their arms, it was that of a private military company.

_Mercs?_ Lyons though _Who the hell is this guy?_

"My name is Dr. Wallace Breen, I understand that you may not have that much time, so I'll get straight to the point. I know you are keeping something from those people in there. What were you doing this morning? What was your mission?" Breen asked sternly. Lyons had been taken aback. He really didn't like the guys tone or what he thought that Breen was getting at. The guy was lucky, if it wern't for the two armed body-guards, he would have recieved a bullet to the brain for even thinking about such an accusation. Lyons tried to keep his cool, but the stress let it slip slightly.

"I am sorry Doctor, that information is classified. Now, have a nice day, you cold hearted bastard." Lyons said. He then turned around and walked out the doors towards his company. Breen was stunned for a second, no one had ever dared to speak to him in that manner. He and his men then followed him out.

Mike Evans was sitting against his Humvee, waiting for Lyons to finish up. The men had mostly come to terms with the rapid turn in events, and most of them were socialising with their team memebrs, sharing a smoke or two. Evans got to his feet as he saw Lyons emerging from the lobby, but he wasn't alone.

"Major Lyons!" a white haired man shouted at the Marine, who was ignoring him.

"Major!" the man repeated. By now, the commotion was gaining the attention of both the Force Recon Marines, some of whom had already started to toy with their weapons. The guards at the gate also watched on. As before, Lyons ignored him. The man sighed and tapped on of the contractors beside him. Both contractors then took a step forward and aimed their MP5s at Lyons and they cocked them to get his attention. Lyons then stopped dead in his tracks, he didn't expect that.

_Does this guy have the guts to have me shot inside the UN compound while my company is 20 feet away?_ he wondered. Not only did it take Lyons by surprise, it took his Marines by surprise also. Nevertheless, they all sprung into action to defend their CO. Due to the positioning of their Humvees, only the first four Humvees had a decent combination of view of the pathway to the lobby and cover behind the armour plating. Therefore, the Marines closest to these four Humvees rushed for a position and aimed their rifles and machine guns at the three assailants. Men who were manning the Humvee's M2 .50 Caliber machine guns pulled back the heavy wooden charging handle and swiveled the mount towards the three men. Gunny Evans scrambled behind the front bonnet of the lead Humvee and aimed his M4.

"LOWER YOUR FUCKING WEAPONS!" he shouted at the contractors, but they ignored him. Lyons slowly put his hands up, but stopped a quarter of the way up to show that he knew that their threat was a load of crap and that he didn't really take it seriously.

"Now, Breen isn't it?, are you really gonna order these washouts to shoot me HERE?" he asked, putting an emphasis on the 'here'. The two contractors shared a look at the comment. Lyons didn't need Breen to answer, he knew just by looking into his eyes. He smirked.

"Of course you won't. You don't have the guts. You know that if your men's trigger fingers even so much as twitch, you and them will be filled with three different types of bullets before you can blink. Now, I have more important things to do rather than stand here watch you with your head up your ass, you know, because I command the entire military task force in the Manhattan area." At that, Lyons turned around and walked towards his Humvee. It was a test to see if Breen did have the guts. The contractors hesitated, but the lowered their weapons as Lyons walked away. Lyons made a hand-signal ordering his men to mount up. They did so, but not without taking their eyes or their weapons off of the three men. Lyons opened his door and sat down, Evans followed.

"Com on Mike, lets get outta here before that guy's bullshit become contagious." Lyons said. Evans turned the ignition and sped off, the convoy followed behind him.

"So who was that guy?" Mike asked

"I'll explain later" Lyons replied. He the heard a new voice on the radio, one of the radio operators from the base.

_"Viper Actual, this is Viper Base, do you copy?"_ the man said

"This is Viper Actual, standing by to copy, over" Lyons

_"I have an urgent relay from the platoon guarding the main gate; callsign "Vulture One-Six". They have called in a code black, sir." _

"Roger, patch me through." Lyons ordered. He then heard the radio change channel. He continued

"Vulture One-Six, this is Viper Actual, how copy?" Lyons said

_"This is Vulture One-Six. Sir, I think you should come and see this." _Lieutenant Anderson said

"What is it?" Lyons asked

_"Well, sir, those green things are back, sir."_

"You don't need my authorization to light them up One-Six." Lyons stated

_"Well, sir, we have identified...uh..." _Anderson stuttered

"Come on One-Six, spit it out, identified what?"

"_Sir, we have a positive ID on three humans that are with them: two men and..."_ Anderson paused

"And what One-Six?"

_"A child sir; A five year old child."_ Anderson replied. Lyons was shocked. The puddle of crap that Lyons had waded into just gotten a whole lot deeper.

"My god." Lyons replied "How far from the gate are they?" he asked

_"About five hundred metres, sir." _

"When they get to three hundred, order them to stop, and don't do anything until I arrive, understood?" Lyons asked

_"Roger that sir."_ Anderson replied. _"ETA on your arrival, sir?"_

"We are about three minutes out; sit tight; Viper Out" Lyons said. The radio then clicked off.

"Mike, go to the main gate; Brooklyn Bridge. Those green aliens are back, and this time, two men and a five year old child are with them."

"Damn!" Evans replied, stamping on the accelerator. Lyons then opened the company channel to tell everyone the horrible news and what their next stop would be.

_I'm getting too old for this_ Lyons thought to himself.

**Okay, two things that you may not have understood:**

**'Comms' is a the shortening of Communications; mostly used to refer to radios.**

**"NCO" stands for a Non-Commissioned Officer; basically a Sergeant.**

**I wanted that confrontation between Lyons and Breen because it will create tension between the two men, which will come to a head in TMW. Now, the G-Man, that just came into my mind and I wrote it down. I don't know if he can predict the future in some way; it would certainly be explainable if that was the case; he can stop time after all. I don't like trying to write the G-Man; I find it hard to keep him like the character he is in the actual games. So, if you think that he wasn't in character, sorry. **

**Finally, come on guys, I need some feedback on this. TMW is getting an average amount of reviews; this only has one. I can't decide if you like this idea or not. If you want to, you can PM me about the Borealis idea; I could use some help or some ideas on it; I have a framework, but it needs expanded on.  
**


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